Post-Truth Philosophy and Truth Analysis in the Era of Disinformation and Fake News

The article examines the idea of post-truth in contemporary philosophy and analyses truth in political, philosophical and anthropological contexts. The authors of the article point out the ambiguity of the concept of post-truth, which is on a par with such concepts as the death of the author in literature and literary criticism, the death of the subject and the end of metaphysics in philosophy. The article aims to study the philosophy of post-truth and the role of truth in contemporary philosophical thought, particularly philosophical anthropology, and their role in countering fake news and disinformation. The article outlines the meaning of the terms “truth†, “fake news†, and “truth†and describes current trends in the study of post-truth philosophy in the era of disinformation and fakes, the main facets of the phenomena of “truth†and “post-truth†, and explores the potential of post-truth and fakes to influence and change mass consciousness, form an ideological coordinate system in society, distort the picture of the world and determine changes in political situations. In addition, the article formulates recommendations for recognising and counteracting fake news, conducts an experimental study among the student audience of a higher education institution on the ability to recognise and respond to the most fake news. The methodological basis of the article is a combination of several theoretical and empirical methods- descriptive method, methods of synthesis and analysis, methods of contextual analysis, linguistic analysis, modelling, as well as empirical research methods (survey method combined with mathematical and statistical methods). The article proposes the hypothesis that digital literacy, understanding of the socio-political situation in the country and the world, and the ability to evaluate an information resource directly affect the process of ‘recognising’ fake news and counteracting this news in the public space. To confirm the hypothesis, an empirical study was conducted based on a survey of 4th year students majoring in Political Science and Computer Science (100 respondents, 50 students of each speciality) at Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University (Ukraine). As the results of the experiment showed, both linguistic analysis methods (comparison of contexts, presence of logical and grammatical errors, analysis of quotes) and technical methods (verification of the source, its domain, verification of the authenticity of the text) can be used to identify fake news.The research authors point out that the concept of post-truth in contemporary philosophical thought implements the idea of weak structures that should replace metaphysical structures. The author analyses the relationship between truth–philosophy and truth–man. The relationship between truth and man varies in national, social, Christian, and anthropological aspects. Truth allows a person to draw a system of coordinates and landmarks in the modern chaotic world. It is determined that post-truth is not a situation after the truth but a situation on the other side of the truth, a world beyond man. Post-truth exists in the post-truth paradigm, in which postmodern metamorphoses and technical transformations deepen. In the media sphere, post-truth is seen as a quasi-real environment favourable to pseudo-news, so the authors propose to consider fake news as a manifestation of post-truth.